US election 2012: Herman Cain to 'reassess' presidential campaign

Herman Cain, the beleaguered Republican presidential candidate, has told supporters he will carry out a "reassessment" of his crisis-hit campaign after a woman alleged he had conducted a 13-year affair with her.

Speaking about the latest in a string of claims of sexual impropriety, Mr Cain said in a conference call that "this recent firestorm" was a "cause for reassessment" over "the next several days". He would continue with his planned schedule for the time being and "if a decision is made, different than to plough ahead, you all will be the first to know".

A withdrawal from Mr Cain could shake up an already dramatically fluid contest for the Republican nomination to face President Barack Obama in next November's United States general election.

Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has edged ahead of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and party establishment favourite, in national polls.

A new Rasmussen poll in New Hampshire, where the first primary will be held on January 10, found Mr Gingrich had risen 16 points while Mr Romney had dropped seven, cutting his long-time lead there to just 10 points. If Mr Cain did abandon his presidential ambitions, Mr Gingrich could well be a beneficiary.

Mr Cain's conference call was recorded by a reporter from the magazine National Review. Afterwards, the Cain campaign frantically insisted that Mr Cain would not drop his White House bid. When asked if Mr Cain was definitely sating in the race, his spokesman JD Gordon responded: "Yes."

"Here we go again," Mr Cain told CNN as he denied the accusation. "I didn't do anything wrong." Miss White, he said, had been "an acquaintance" whom he had considered a friend but no sexual activity had ever taken place.

In a statement, Mr Cain said her claims "completely baseless", the same flat rejection he has given to accusations from four other women of sexual harassment including, in one cae, a sexual assault.

"Detractors are trying once again to derail the Cain Train with more accusations of past events that never happened," the statement said.

"The Cain Campaign is not surprised that another female accuser has come forward due to the fact that earlier allegations were unable to force Herman Cain to drop his presidential bid to renew America."

In the conference call, Mr Cain compared the latest crisis the campaign was facing, which follows a slump in opinion polls following the initial slew of allegations, to previous difficulties.

"As you know, during the summer we had to make some reassessments based upon our financial situation. We were able to hang in there; we reassessed the situation and kept on going. We also did a reassessment after the Iowa straw poll and we made another reassessment after the Florida straw poll."

But he clearly left the door open to dropping out. "Now, with this latest one, we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud, in some people's minds, as to whether or not they would be able to support us going forth."